Thousands of veterans sign up for job education

By Ashley Hopkinson
Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, July 4 2012 12:00 a.m. MDT

In a Monday, July 2, 2012 photo, Army veteran Chester Dixon, right, works with William Moore, Georgia Department of Labor veterans representative, to apply for a a new skills-based program to get out-of-work veterans trained and back in the job market in Atlanta. The program is first-come, first-serve for qualifying veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 who are unemployed at the time of the application. Veterans who do qualify can receive up to 12 months of education assistance in high demand areas like science and technology. (David Goldman, Associated Press)

ATLANTA — Unemployed veterans may be heading back to school by the thousands under a new federal program that pays for up to a year of education.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs say out-of-work veterans can get back in the job market in high demand fields like health care, management and legal services.

So far, there has been an enormous response to the program called the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP).

More than 27,000 unemployed veterans have applied and 13,083 have already been accepted.

The program is first-come, first-serve for qualifying veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 who are unemployed at the time of the application. Veterans who are currently receiving unemployment benefits or are enrolled in a federal or state job training program do not qualify.